Randy Bachman & Fred Turner – HuffPost 9.3.10

Mike Ragogna: Do you have any advice for up and coming artists?

Randy Bachman: Well, it has to be your passion. You have to want to do it regardless. Whether you get paid, or shafted, or screwed, at the end of the day, you have to say, “That was a great gig, I really enjoyed it. Too bad the guy left with all the money and we didn’t get paid. Too bad we’re broke.” You’ve got to love it.

I’ve had decades, in all the different bands I was in–The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and every other band in between–of being shafted by different managers, artists, and labels, and just getting screwed. You’ve got to love what you do. It’s just like the business you’re in, radio…you have to love it, and you’ve got to see your way through the hard times. Be true to your craft, honor your craft. Don’t self-destruct with alcohol and drugs. Be straight, be true, be on time, practice, and give it one hundred percent all the time, and you will become better than someone else.

The great thing about our world is, when you’re better than someone else, or someone is better than you, we pay each other. I’ll pay a guy who is a better plumber than me to fix my broken sink or to fix my car, and he will pay me to hear guitar. So, whatever you do, guitar, bass, drums or singing, just practice, and practice, and someone will pay to see you. They’ll pay for you to rock their world for an hour or two every night, just as you’ll pay him to fix your broken leg if he’s a doctor. We all need each other, and we obviously look for the best, so try to be the best.

MR: What’s your advice for up and coming artists?

FT: New artists? You have to do the practical side. You have to go out and play, and you have to be seen, and you have to be there when things happen. You’ve got to keep playing and you’ve got to be in people’s faces because it won’t just come to you. You have to be there, and you’ve got to be ready, when the door opens, to walk through it.